


One With Nature

by Caeleste



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Adult Yuri Plisetsky, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fluff, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 12:09:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9725813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caeleste/pseuds/Caeleste
Summary: When Yuri had turned 18, he started noticing the changes in his body. His grandfather had not warned him about it, because he didn’t want to worry him about something that might not even happen. Unfortunately he did turn out to be one of the people in his family line that was cursed to have a body like he had.





	1. Change

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pyropelove413](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=pyropelove413).



> I wrote this story for the Yuri on Ice Valentine exchange! It's a gift for pyropelove413 on Tumblr. I chose to write an Otayuri fantasy fic. I hope you enjoy it! Happy Valentines!
> 
> I want to say sorry for not being able to finish all the chapters before valentine's day, but I promise I'll finish the fic asap! At the moment I'm in my last year of university so I'm very busy ><
> 
> My native language isn't English and I don't have a beta reader, so I'm sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes! I tried to get them all out.

Yuri couldn’t remember when it had all exactly started. How long he had roamed around like this. Somewhere along the way he might have passed the Russian border. All land around him was foreign to his eyes. Why was he getting punished for something his ancestors had done? He had no part in this, it wasn’t fair..

\---

_When Yuri had turned 18 he started noticing the changes in his body. His grandfather had not warned him about it, because he didn’t want to worry him for something that might not even happen. Unfortunately he did turn out to be one of the people in his family line that was cursed to have a body like he had._

_One day he started having pain in his bones. The pain kind of reminded him of the growing pains he used to have in his growing spurt when he was younger. His body temperature also started getting higher, which made him feel feverish sometimes. Yuri wasn’t the person to show anyone his weaknesses and he certainly didn’t want to bother his grandfather with his vague complaints, so he decided to keep it to himself._

_He was unprepared when it happened. It had been a snowy winter evening. It was already dark and little snowflakes dropped peacefully from the sky. The air was chilly, but quite pleasant for a Russian winter evening. Yuri was walking back from his evening practice at the ice rink. He loved ice-skating. He could always release his pend up frustrations on the ice. This training in particular had been satisfying. For unknown reasons he had lately been feeling agitated, even more so than usual._

_The ache in his bones had been getting worse the last few days and walking back home now, he felt very hot as well. His heart started beating faster and faster until he got seriously worried about getting a heart attack. Yuri stood still in the empty silent street trying to get his heart to calm down a little. Suddenly the pain in his bones became unbearable and his legs gave out underneath his body. The pain was so bad, he couldn’t help but let out a scream from the agonizing pain. Panting frantically, he squeezed his eyes shut in pain not knowing what he could possibly do get rid of this horrible feeling. Never in his life had he experienced such excruciating pain._

_After what felt like hours, but had probably been a few minutes at most, the pain slowly started to subside. He opened his eyes slowly and saw the same empty silent street he had been in before he fell down. Luckily no one had heard his scream, the snow had probably muffled the sound of it. His body felt so exhausted that he almost didn’t feel like getting up, but he knew he had to, after all he didn’t want to worry his grandfather with his absence._

_As he put his hands on the ground for support to push himself up he noticed something that wasn’t supposed to be there. Instead of seeing his hands, he saw two big striped feline paws in the snow underneath his body. He stared at it for a few seconds, before he registered what he was actually seeing. He tried gasping out his usual ‘Huh?!’ but instead what came out of his mouth was a low feline rumble. His exhaustion faded away from the adrenaline that pumped through his body. He tried to get up as quickly as possible. He somehow couldn’t manage to stand upright though, which left him on his hands and feet. ‘No, no, no, no, this can’t be true!’ he thought to himself. ‘This is utterly insane!’ he took a quick look around him to check if there still weren’t any people around, which luckily there weren’t._

_He wondered where the hell he should go. If it truly is how it looked he had to go somewhere where he couldn’t be seen. He was in the middle of a city though and possibly couldn’t go anywhere quiet without being seen by anyone. His home was close and his grandfather probably was already in bed. Right now, that was his only option._

_He was wrong, his grandfather hadn’t gone to bed yet. He had somehow managed to sneak unseen into his house. He managed to open the door with his front legs and when he was inside he closed the door shut with his hip. The house was quiet and it looked like his grandfather had already gone to bed. When he tried to walk as quietly as possible to his bedroom his grandfather suddenly jumped out of the kitchen ‘Yuratchka! Caught you! Where have you-‘ he stopped dead in his sentence when he noticed a big tiger standing in the hallway. His grandfather was noticeably at a loss for words with his mouth gaping open and his eyes big and round. Yuri just stood frozen in the hallway and didn’t know what to do. ‘Yura?’ his grandfather cautiously said and Yuri felt relief wash over him as his grandfather seemed to somehow recognize him. Yuri felt tears welling up in his eyes and couldn’t stop them from flowing over his cheeks making his fur sticky. Instead of sobs some soft feline whimpers came from his throat._

\---

That evening his grandfather had explained him everything. He explained there lays a curse on their family and that some people from their family are affected by it and some not. The older the curse, the less powerful it became. Everyone used to be affected by the curse, but in present time only sometimes someone in their family would get affected by it. His grandfather’s father was also unlucky and has also been affected by the curse, that’s how his grandfather knew a lot about it. Yuri was the next in line to be affected by it. 

The curse was so old that they didn’t know why it had been casted on them in the first place, but eventually by time the curse would get so diluted that it would stop existing all together. Unfortunately it wasn’t that time yet and Yuri was cursed. The curse would shapeshift you at random times into a certain animal, in Yuri’s case a tiger. Yuri doesn’t have any control over his shapeshifting and can’t choose when it happens and when he wants to shapeshift back into his human body. He could be stuck in a tiger’s body for a few hours but also for a few days. The longest he had been stuck has been a week and that happened to be right at this moment, while he was aimlessly wandering in the wilderness of god knows what country.

After trying to deal with his problem, Yuri had decided it was best to leave his grandfather. It broke his heart to leave him, but he didn’t want to bring his grandfather in danger. Yuri couldn’t really leave his house anymore, because he had no control over his shapeshifting and it drove him insane. If he would however leave the house selfishly and shapeshift in public he would only bring trouble for his grandfather and he certainly didn’t want that either. The only option was to escape the city and live freely in the wild. In his tiger body he didn’t have to worry about food, he could easily catch prey and eat animals raw. At first he worried if that would make him ill, but apparently while in his tiger form the only thing human left inside him was his mind. 

Even as he tried to avoid people, he still felt lonely. He missed his grandfather, he missed ice-skating and heck, he even missed boring stuff like school. Yuri’s stomach was full and he noticed it was getting dark, he should search for a place where he could stay for the night. Luckily it was spring, so he doesn’t have to worry about the freezing cold. He couldn’t take much luggage with him because of his body, he had no way to easily carry a backpack or something. He luckily managed to hang a shoulder bag around his neck, much like a necklace. It must look ridiculous, but he didn’t really care because it was convenient. Luckily no one had seen him in his animal form yet, he always noticed the people before they noticed him, and that gave him enough time to hide somewhere from them. The bag wasn’t too big, so all there was in it were some clothes, a bottle of water, a wallet with his ID and money, a very small fleece blanket and his phone and charger. He only needed the items in his human form so he only used the items once in a while. 

He finally found a comfortable place to stay for the night. He ended up in a really small shallow cave near a little lake in the forest. The lake was a nice clear blue and the water looked fresh enough to drink. Another perk is that other animals would get attracted to the lake as well, so if he needs any prey he doesn’t have to go far to search for it. Yuri felt exhausted after walking for such a long distance today, so when the sun set he decided to call it a day and go to sleep.


	2. The forest ranger

Otabek has loved nature since he was a small child. In his free time he would always make a stroll through the beautiful forest near his village. As a child his father would accompany him, to protect him from dangerous animals, might he encounter one. His father taught him everything he needed to know about surviving in the wilderness. He could spent days, just sitting at his favorite secret spots in the forest. He would just sit and relax, watching how birds flew past him and trying to recognize and name the breeds of them. 

Spending most of his life in the forest made him the perfect candidate to be the forest ranger and when the old forest ranger had to retire, he was the first one to offer to take it over. Everyone in the village knew Otabek and how much knowledge and love he had for the forest, so it was only natural that he became the new forest ranger. Now Otabek lived in a small chalet at the forest’s edge, living the life he’s always dreamed of. 

His daily tasks consisted of checking the forest, to see if there were no children vandalizing the place, looking around for poachers and the traps they set and looking if there was nothing else out of the ordinary like ill animals for example. His job was pretty relaxed and he could do what he loved most, spending his time in nature. Because of this, Otabek was known as somewhat of a loner. His quiet attitude didn’t make the situation any better, not that he cared really. Otabek only liked spending his time around people that he admired or that interested him and he didn’t know anyone like that, so he preferred spending his time alone with the animals around him.

It was early in the morning and Otabek was about to start his first round through the forest. People with bad intentions usually did them at night or early morning so he always had to go out early to check if everything was still alright. He put on some warm clothes and good boots, put on a shoulder bag with some water and food in it and hung his rifle over his shoulder. 

He was on his way to his favorite spot, a small lake in the middle of the forest. It was a lovely place where animals often gathered. As a child his father used to take him there in the winter to go ice-skating. Otabek had loved that, he didn’t tell anyone but when the ice was thick enough he still went there to skate sometimes. Ice-skating made him feel completely one with nature and he loved it, it is a shame he didn’t have time to do it more often. 

He finally arrived at the lake, the water was clear and blue and as beautiful as always. The just risen sun shone beautifully on it, leaving a sparkle behind on the clear water. Otabek just stood there and admired the beauty of it for a while. Little droplets of rain started pouring from the sky, creating a majestic rainbow. He decided this was the perfect time and place to eat breakfast. He knew there was a little cave nearby that hadn’t been inhabited by an animal, so he went on his way to the cave to shelter from the rain and comfortably eat his breakfast. 

When he arrived at the cave, it was empty, just like he expected. When he looked closer at the sand in the cave he saw that quite a big animal had been laying there not too long ago. ‘Probably a bear’ Otabek muttered to himself. It wasn’t uncommon to see bears around the place although he didn’t know of any that had spent the night in this cave before. Well, luckily the bear wasn’t anywhere to be seen, so not an immediate threat for him right now.

Otabek ate his lunch peacefully, chewing on his last bite of his sandwich when he suddenly heard a loud roar. This perked his attention immediately. He never heard an animal like it before, but he could clearly hear it was distressed. He could hear more whimpers coming from the woods, there was something wrong with this animal. Otabek stood up and shook his rifle of his shoulder and ran with it in his hands towards the noise. He ran through thick bushes, which resulted in several light scratches on his cheeks. The whimpers and growls started getting louder and louder, until he finally arrived at the source of the noise. 

\---

Yuri had been so focused on chasing a deer he had totally overlooked the situation around him, which resulted in him getting his left hind leg caught in a poacher’s trap. He fell over with a loud bang and a loud roar emitting from his body. He felt a sharp pain run through his leg and instinctively tried to pull his leg out of the trap, resulting in even further tearing of his skin. His human mind yelled at him to stop moving, so he just laid there frozen. He couldn’t stop the whimpers and growls that poured from his throat. 

How was he ever going to get out of this situation? He didn’t want to risk losing his leg, but he also didn’t want to get caught by poachers. That would probably result in him getting killed and his skin getting used as a rug somewhere. He felt tears forming in his eyes. He knew he was fucked, no matter how the situation turned out. This certainly wasn’t how he imagined his life would end. He was so distracted by the pain and his thoughts, he didn’t even hear the rustling bushes nearby. He did however hear the safe of a rifle being removed. His head shot towards the sound and he saw a man standing a few meters away from him, with his rifle pointed at him. 

Tears poured from Yuri’s eyes as he looked up at the man. This was the end, this poacher was going to finish him off. His grandfather wouldn’t even know what happened to him in the end. He wished he could have seen him one more time. Yuri dropped his head to the floor and closed his eyes, not wanting to know when the bullet would come.

What he heard however wasn’t a gunshot, but footsteps coming up to him. Yuri slowly squeezed his eyes open to look what was happening and he saw the man approaching him with his rifle still pointed at him. ‘Wha-?! Is he crazy?!’ Yuri thought to himself. Yuri was so surprised he didn’t know what to do. Should he defend himself? No, if he attacked him it would only result in himself being shot and still being trapped. He decided he would just wait and see what this man would do.

\---

The tiger he was approaching had the most incredible expression on his face. It’s teary eyes were staring at him wide open in an almost human-like fashion. Otabek knew that it was crazy what he was doing, but this situation was just too rare. Never before had he seen a tiger in this forest, they weren’t supposed to live here, they were basically instinct! And yet right before his eyes was a beautiful tiger, wounded by a trap. When he had pointed his rifle at the tiger he had seen the look of defeat in its eyes, almost like he understood what was happening. Otabek was entranced by this majestic beast and decided that he wanted to help him. If the situation got to dangerous, he could always still shoot the animal, but he didn’t want to do so without trying to rescue him first. 

As he approached the tiger he noticed there was something around its neck, was it another trap? As he got a better look he recognized it as a bag. Strange.. did human littering become so bad even tigers got stuck with bags around their neck now? The tiger closely followed him getting closer with his eyes, but didn’t show any sign of aggression. ‘It’s okay, I’m going to help you.’ Otabek said assuring to the tiger. The tiger looked him straight in the eye and after that nodded with his head at him. Wait.. did this tiger just nod at him? That must have been a coincidence. Otabek kneeled down next to the tiger and his instinct told him the animal wasn’t going to attack him. He knew it was foolish, but he did it anyway, he put his rifle down on the ground. While he did so he kept his eyes on the tiger to see if it would behave any differently. It didn’t, it just kept staring at him. 

Otabek slowly reached his hand out to the tiger and put it softly on his back. The animal still didn’t do as much as even flinch. Otabek slowly moved his hand along the spine of the tiger to comfort and pet him, letting him know he didn’t have any bad intentions. He knew all of this was ridiculous and unnecessarily risky, but he loved animals and he just knew this one was special from all others. As he stroked his hand gently over the spine of the tiger a low purr started getting out of its throat. Otabek flushed slightly at how adorable this tiger was, it almost behave like a cute kitten. The tiger moved its leg a little and whined at the movement. Otabek got distracted from his trance and remembered what he needed to do. ‘I’m going to free you from the trap now. It will probably hurt, but I have good intentions so please don’t attack me?’ The tiger looked him in the eyes again and nodded. Twice couldn’t be a coincidence right? He opened his bag and got some gear out to open the trap. It took him a few minutes to open it, the rustling of him opening the trap making the tiger whimper and growl. 

When the trap was finally open, the tiger pulled its leg towards his body and tried to get up, but fell down immediately again. The leg was bleeding and definitely needed care if the tiger wanted to survive in the wild. ‘Wait! Let me take care of your leg first.’ Otabek said to the tiger. However, the tiger didn’t respond to his voice and tried to get up again and walk away, which he managed to do for a few steps, but then fell down again with a roar.

Otabek had his eyes on the tiger when it happened. In his fall the tiger his body shifted into a human being’s. The roar turned into a scream instead, when the boy dropped to the floor. For a few seconds Otabek just stared at the boy on the floor. His mind wasn’t playing tricks on him was he? He walked up to the boy, who was lying flat on his stomach on the forest floor. He was unconscious, but still breathing. His left calve was injured, at the same place where the tiger had been injured. The wounds looked like they needed stitches, but apart from that it looked manageable. The boy was covered in dirt and looked quite frail. All he had on him was a bag that was hanging around his neck. 

There was no mistaking it. This boy was the tiger that he had been helping only a few minutes ago.


	3. Rest

Yuri’s body was exhausted and sore all over and he felt a stinging pain in his leg. He however felt a soft mattress underneath his back. It had been ages since he had laid down on something as soft as a mattress.. And what was that nice smell? Suddenly realizing this situation wasn’t usual Yuri’s eyes shot open. The first thing that came into vision was a ceiling. He tried to sit up, but as he did so his body protested. ‘Uugh..’ Yuri couldn’t help but let out a painful groan. ‘Hey.. I would take it easy if I were you.’ a somewhat familiar voice responded to his groan.

Yuri looked at where the voice came from and he saw the same guy that helped him earlier when he was trapped. Yuri took in the scenery around him. It seemed like he was in some kind of room. He was laying on a bed with a blanket over his body. He noticed he was wearing clothes as well. The guy was holding a spoon in his hand and it looked like he was cooking, since there was something boiling on the stove. Yuri felt his mouth started to water at the delicious smell that was hanging in the air. Apparently the guy had noticed his hungry look, because he gave a small smile and started speaking. ‘I assumed you must be hungry after that ordeal from earlier, so I prepared some soup for you.’ He put some of the soup in a bowl with a spoon and handed it over to Yuri. Yuri hesitantly accepted it and was about to have a taste when the guy warned him ‘Careful, it’s hot.’ Yuri glanced over into the man’s eyes and noticed the guy had a slight blush covering his nose and cheeks. Yuri blew on the soup before putting a spoonful in his mouth. It was delicious.. It had been such a long time ago since he had some decent human food.

‘Your name is Yuri isn’t it?’ Yuri looked surprised at the sudden remark. ‘How do you know?’ he asked a bit tense. ‘I looked into your bag and saw your ID in it.’ Yuri was slightly annoyed the guy had been looking into his personal belongings, but then again, the guy had done a lot to help him so he didn’t really mind. ‘Yes I am. Who are you?’ The man looked into his eyes and answered ‘My name is Otabek Altin. I’m the ranger of this forest.’ Ah that made sense. But still, this man his actions were so strange. First he had helped, what he must have assumed to be a wounded tiger, and second he hadn’t hesitated to take him back to his home after seeing said tiger transform into a human. ‘Why did you help me?’ It must have come out quite blunt, since Otabek looked at him a little flustered. ‘Well.. Something just told me it was safe to help you and I just didn’t want to see such a beautiful animal suffer..’ Otabek proclaimed. Yuri blushed slightly at that comment. He had kind of indirectly said he was beautiful even though he wasn’t talking about his human body. ‘Aren’t you afraid of what I am?’ Otabek looked at him like he didn’t fully understand. ‘Do I have reason to be?’ Unfortunately Yuri knew from experience people usually are afraid of the things they don’t know and understand. ‘No.’ Yuri acknowledged. 

\---

Otabek took a good look at the boy in front of him. While he had been asleep he had cleaned his body up and stitched the wounds on his leg. He always kept a first aid box in his house in case he or an animal he found needed medical attention. His mother was a doctor in the village and had taught him some useful skills like stitching wounds. Afterwards he had dressed the boy in some of his clothes. After having him cleaned up, he had a better image of the boy. He had pale skin with beautiful blonde hair. He looked kind of cute in Otabek’s clothes that were way too big on him. A faint blush crept on Otabek’s cheeks. He never thought someone was cute, yet the boy in front of him possessed some form of feral beauty. 

Otabek almost forgot about the bag the boy had accompanying with him until he saw it on his kitchen counter again. He felt bad about looking through someone’s bag without permission, but he had reason enough to do so, so that’s what he did. He found some common supplies, but paused when he saw a Russian passport. He opened it and saw a picture of the boy that was laying in his bed. The name next to the picture said ‘Yuri Plisetsky’. Otabek whispered the name to himself and felt the name roll pleasantly off his lips. Apparently the boy was 19 years old and had a Russian nationality. He wondered how the boy had ended up all the way in Kazakhstan. He had to get some answers soon, but first he’ll make some vegetable soup for Yuri, he must be starving.

\---

After finishing his bowl of soup Otabek had asked him how he ended up all the way here in Kazakhstan in the shape he was. Yuri felt he owed him an explanation, so he ended up telling him his whole story. Telling Otabek made him feel relieved somehow, like a weight had been put off his shoulders. All the while Otabek had been a good listener, looking at Yuri intensely as he explained his situation. ‘And so that’s how I ended up in that trap you saved me from.’ Yuri ended his story. ‘I’m glad I found you.’ Otabek said. Yuri looked at him surprised, then turned his head away with a blush adorning his face. ‘Well.. thank you..’ Yuri mumbled back. ‘What did you say? You’re mumbling.’ Otabek said with a serious face. Yuri’s face flushed fully red now and yelled ‘Thank you! F-for you know.. H-helping me..’ He wasn’t used to thanking people and felt embarrassed. 

Automatically he tried to get up from the bed, completely forgetting about his injured leg. As he stood up, pain shot through his leg and he fell forward. Otabek quickly jumped up and caught Yuri in his arms, clinging his arms around his thin frame. Yuri’s heart was beating furiously against his chest with his blush still present on his face. He had never liked physical contact, but somehow Otabek’s embrace made him feel safe, which had been something he hadn’t felt for a long time. Yuri unconsciously clung his arms back around Otabek’s back and held on to him. He had his chin against Otabek’s shoulder and took in a deep breath. Otabek smelled so comforting.. Like smoke from a log fire and fresh herbs.. Yuri felt a shiver going through Otabek’s body and got interrupted from his thoughts by Otabek asking him ‘Are you alright? Does your leg hurt?’

\---

Otabek was surprised to find Yuri clinging back to him. Feeling Yuri inhale and his breath on his neck caused his body to release an embarrassing shiver. Trying to get himself out of this state he asked Yuri if he was alright. Yuri had muttered out he was okay and that he had forgotten about his leg for a moment. Otabek helped Yuri to sit down on the bed again and showed him the stitches he had put into his leg. Yuri looked amazed at the stitches in his leg and had listened to Otabek explain he had learned the skill from his mother. ‘How long will it take to heal? I need to know when to take them out.’ Yuri asked after Otabek’s explanation. Otabek looked at him confused. ‘What do you mean when you will take them out? I will take them out.’ He simply proclaimed. Yuri looked at him not really knowing what to say. Then Otabek understood. ‘You’re staying here. I won’t let you move around like that, I’ll take care of you.’ He could see Yuri’s eyes soften and simply nod ‘Thank you!’ he replied clearly this time.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked the story so far! If you did, please leave behind your kudos and bookmark/subscribe :D


End file.
